Descent
by AlexThor
Summary: Stories about Azula, set after and before Sozin's Comet. They are intense and psychological, showcasing Azula's gradual descent into madness. Implied Mai/Ty Lee
1. Chapter 1

Azula's cell was a fortress in its own right. The fact that she spent her days within a fortress within a fortress may have seemed unnecessary to some people, but those people clearly didn't know Azula.

When Zuko had consigned her to the asylum, he had taken special care to make her quarters inescapable. _He_ knew Azula.

The stone walls, cut from granite blocks, were plastered with gypsum so as to make them nearly invulnerable to heat. The door was several inches of metal, with only a tiny window obscured by steel bars. It was locked from the outside. So too was the tiny slit that would just barely allow a tray of food to pass through.

Mai had to make her way to the top floor of the asylum to reach Azula's cell. Four guards were posted outside, impassive men wearing the uniforms of royal firebenders.

One of them slid a slat to the side, allowing Mai to look through the barred window and into Azula's enclosure.

She wore a straight-jacket, her arms secured behind her back so she could not chew through the straps. Apparently, Mai was informed, this had become a problem.

The once Princess of the Fire Nation, though Mai supposed she still was in a sense, was a mess. Her hair was tangled and torn, her face was grimy. Azula staggered about her cell, swinging her head back and forth. She was talking to someone who wasn't there.

It took some time for Azula to notice her old friend's impassive face staring at her through the bars. Mai simply waited and observed her former leader's state of decay, both physical and mental.

Then the Princess darted to the door, pressing her face against the bars. She leered at Mai, as if she were the one imprisoned and Azula were looking in at her cell.

"Look who's come to grace us" she said with false gratitude "Zuzu's little girlfriend". Mai remained silent.

"Although" she said, her grin widening "I suppose if _you're_ here and _he's_ not...well, what does that mean?". Mai shrugged it off. Zuko had left to visit King Kue and discuss the terms of a trade agreement or some nonsense. Maybe he hadn't left on the best of terms, but nothing Azula was insinuating was true.

"Well, speak up. It's not as if I'm going to wait around all day". Finally Mai spoke. "Hello Azula" she deadpanned "You're looking well".

Azula laughed, a short, piercing note. Then her face shifted to a grim mask. Her smile was still there, plastered to her face, but her eyes made it seem like an oversight. They were gleaming with cold-blooded hatred, burning with it.

"I had a dream last night" she said, her voice lowering. "I had a dream that Zuzu and that Water Tribe _peasant_ had you nailed to the wall of the royal bedchambers, and they took turns throwing knives at you. They loved it".

Azula turned away, her voice returning to its casual tone "But you took it of course. Took the _abuse_. Because that's what you are". Azula's smile spread to a grin, revealing her teeth. "You just sit there and take it while the world has its way with you. You ignore everything in front of you".

Mai's stomach had twisted into a knot of fear. She normally wasn't one to be affected by these things, even from Azula. But something about what she said disturbed Mai on a gut level.

She wanted to leave right now. But she doesn't want to look like the weaker woman here. No matter what bile Azula spewed, there was nothing quite so nerve-wracking as walking away from the girl with your back turned.

"Anyways" Azula continued, speaking as if their conversation were the most trivial thing in the world. Mai got the sense that if Azula's hands were unbound she would be examining her nails.

"This is the third time he's left you, isn't it?". She was so damn smug. Azula was utterly confident in her smugness, something that made Mai uneasy. She'd never been half as confident.

"Second" Mai replied, expression unchanging. "The first time was to look for the Avatar". Then, exasperatedly "Why does it matter, Azula?".

"I suppose I'm not being clear enough, my _dear_ Mai. I thought you were smart enough to understand where this was going". Azula cleared her throat and Mai's back stiffened just a little.

"I should say, this is the third time he's broken up with you. He did it when he went off on his little quest to find the Avatar, and he did it once before then. And now he's gone again. How does that make you feel?".

Azula smiled at Mai's nonresponsiveness. "Bad phrasing" Azula muttered, smirking to herself.

Finally Mai decided to respond. "He didn't leave me Azula. He's in the Earth Kingdom temporarily, to straighten out some _boring_ deal with the-". Azula cut her off.

"He's gone there to straighten out that pretty little waterbender, Mai. Why don't you just accept it. You've seen the way they look at eachother". Azula gave Mai an amorous glance.

"And he wants her, the little tart" Azula said, relishing the words. "You've seen the looks. You know what he's after, what SHE'S after. Why I'd bet a king's ransom they've already...well, that goes without saying".

Mai inhaled sharply, swallowing hard. None of this was true. Azula had been stuck in here for weeks and she just wanted something to toy with. Besides, the girl was just that, a girl. She couldn't even be sixteen yet. Zuko wouldn't.

"Well what do you think?" Azula asked, as if she was wondering what the latest court gossip was. Mai didn't understand what she was asking.

Azula rolled her eyes. "About the waterbender. You've got quite an _eye_ for girls, wouldn't you say? Why I'm sure our little acrobat would agree". Azula's smile was disturbingly pretty. The woman was impossible to follow, she kept changing her face and her tone.

"That was once" Mai growled, low enough that only Azula could hear her.

"It was disgusting" Azula snarled back at her. "Despicable, and you know it". Azula's face was twisted with disgust. Mai didn't agree with what she felt, but she could understand. It wasn't exactly acceptable what they'd done, and she knew what people would think.

"You two wouldn't stop, always going at it, always making so much noise. You'd think a dragon moose was being eaten by a komodo rhino in the other room".

Azula grimaced disdainfully. "She _still_ wants you. Always finding ways to touch you, ways to be near you. Hugging you. Its a disgrace". "I have _half_ a mind to tell your father" she threatened. Azula snickered to herself. "Half a mind, don't you get it? It's funny".

Her face fell and she sighed. "But no one would believe Zuzu's crazy sister, now would they".

Azula began to mutter to herself, something about her being a monster. Mai was becoming unnerved, unhinged at the sight of Azula. She really had gone insane. The former Princess was completely unpredictable. And she knew about things she couldn't have. It didn't make sense.

"She's a _child_, Azula. Zuko wouldn't leave me for some waterbending peasant. He wouldn't leave me for anyone". Azula scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Blind!" she shrieked, causing the guards to jump. Azula was pressing her face against the bars again and Mai could feel her breath.

"Blind blind blind blind blind" she hissed. "You choose not to see the things that everyone else is trying to make clear for you. He leaves you three times, twice to go see that waterbending _whore_". Azula shook her head, feigning disbelief.

"And what do you do, Mai? What you do is lie there and take whatever Zuzu throws at you like the obedient, grovelling little _bitch_ you are. It sickens me, Mai".

Azula always lies, Azula always lies. Mai chants this mantra to herself internally, over and over again. Its true. She's just looking for something to screw with.

"Did you ever sleep with him?" Azula asked accusatorially. When Mai didn't answer, she continued.

"I thought not. You know you really should have. Maybe if you'd done anything the least bit fulfilling for him, maybe if you'd lain there and taken HIM along with everything else, he wouldn't have gone traipsing off to screw some Water Tribe peasant".

Mai bristled, allowing her anger to show through. "Shut up!" she screamed. Then, tempering her rage, "You don't even begin to understand Zuko. He's not some power-hungry _cutthroat_ like you, he's loyal. He's good. That's why everyone thinks, why everyone _knows_ you're a monster and he isn't. _That's_ why he's Fire Lord and you're nothing!".

Azula was furious, her eyes wide and her face twisted with rage. If she hadn't been in the straight jacket, she would have burned Mai to a crisp.

They stood, staring at eachother balefully, for several agonizing moments. Then Azula snapped, started to scream and rant and rave about nothing and everything. She cast her gaze about the cell wildly and paced back and forth.

Mai breathed a sigh of relief. She was back to her madness. The stark, raving lunacy she seemed to exhibit was by far the least terrifying aspect of Azula. Screaming and wild eyes were one thing, but the chilling way she picked people apart was ten times worse.

**If you reeeeeeeally loved it (which you probably didn't) please say so. I could always be convinced to write more things.**

**And if you liked this story, be sure to check out the multi-part sequel, "The Hunt"**


	2. Interlude: Lightning

Lightning had always come easily to Azula. It was one of those things that just came naturally, like riding a turtle seal. One _never_ forgets how to ride a turtle seal once they've learned it, and one can have a very easy time of learning how.

That was her only problem with lightning. Like many things, it was just too...too _easy_. The techniques had seemed _challenging_ and _new_ at first, but now they were so blase. It was almost pitiful.

And that's what surprised many people. They didn't seem to believe - at first anyways - that not only could Azula control lightning, but she was quite good at it.

In the beginning that confused her. Lightning was about self control, inner stability. So why didn't people understand that she was good at it? That's what she'd thought in the beginning. But now she understood.

People thought she was _weak_. Not physically weak, but _unstable_. _Temperamental_. They thought she didn't have what it took to handle lightning.

And that _ate_ at her. It really did. Normally, she wouldn't allow the vagaries of other people's opinions to affect her. And they didn't, not _Really_. People talked, people hated, and one could pay for those people to be killed. Or one could just do it themselves.

Either way, it didn't matter at first. People talked about it behind her back, so she didn't care. But then there was that one day with Ty Lee...

They had both been enrolled at the Fire Nation Academy at the time. So young. But Azula hadn't felt young then. She'd _never_ felt young. All her life, it had seemed she could understand everything that was happening...and remained powerless to change it.

Like a prisoner in her own body, she was forced to listen to her elders, do what her elders said, respect her elders and so on and so forth until the end of time. Or at least the end of childhood.

But that end had just seemed too far away, achingly close but painfully and unbearably unreachable.

When she was younger, it hadn't made any sense. Following the orders of adults just because of their age? Their _age_, of all things, made them superior to her? It was ridiculous. And, being young, she hadn't followed the stupid orders of stupid people who thought age made them better than.

And that had gotten her into trouble. Not often, but once in awhile. Eventually she got smarter. _Learned_. It didn't matter whether you did what they said, they didn't care one bit. But as long as you listened, or looked like you listened, as long as you pretended to care...

No, age hadn't tempered Azula. It had sharpened her. She was every bit as independent as she had been when she was younger, just smarter now.

She had mastered important skills, like pretending she cared. _Pretending_ to listen. You nodded, you smiled, you said "Of course". And at the end of the day, once you were on top - which Azula _always_ made sure she was - they did the same for you.

But that wasn't enough for Azula, no, not by far. The false subservience she'd given them was not what they would give her. They would be taught to serve, TRULY serve her and fear would be their teacher. Hadn't father said something like that? The day he burned Zuko? No, maybe it was "Pain will be your teacher". It didn't matter. She relished the memory either way. The fear in his eyes was delicious and she'd smiled as she'd watched it. One of the few times she'd really been happy in her childhood.

Where was she? She'd gotten lost, sidetracked, confused...

Of course, the Fire Nation Academy. And Ty Lee. And the lightning. What had she meant to say? Oh, yes, the story.

She'd been younger then, still not a master of pretending. Lying. Acting. Whatever you wanted to call it.

Azula was..._Demonstrating_ her remarkable control over lightning on a passing flight of eagle hawks to Ty Lee and Mai. She'd thought to impress them...No, not impress. _Amuse_. To impress them would have implied she valued their opinion of her, which of course she didn't. Not now. Not anymore.

Then Ty Lee had said something dumb, as she often did. It was sad really, Azula thought. Such a pretty, skilled body wasted on one a shrivelled up little mind like hers. Everything paled in comparison to Azula's though, so maybe Ty Lee wasn't _stupid_, so to speak.

Anyhow, she'd said something about Azula's remarkable control. Remarkable, for Azula, she'd said. That was when it struck her.

People thought, because she got so angry at times, that she didn't have perfect self control. A ridiculous notion. Azula was always in control, always _had_ been in control, she knew that. She was sure of it.

That was the first time she'd burned someone. It still surprised her to this day, that she'd been ten before she used her fire on a person.

But the remark about her lightning made her mad. How dare she insult me so, she'd thought, how dare she question my control.

And before she knew what she'd done, Ty Lee was on the ground crying like a baby and holding her arm. Really. Crying? It had taken two weeks to heal at the most, it couldn't have been that bad.

But that had only been the start. For some reason that Azula simply couldn't comprehend, people assumed she wouldn't be good at lightning. Absurd, she was the _best_ at lightning. But people thought she had some inner turmoil, something that made her less than perfectly mentally stable. What could have affected her so? _Her mother's gone_, people would say.

Azula had learned to control herself after Ty Lee had been burned. Not because she didn't want to hurt people. Not because, deep down, she was some _perfect little girl who just wanted to be good_. No. It was because people frowned upon it, and until she was on top of everything, someone would be above her to frown down at her.

Then people went and talked about _her mother_. The woman hadn't been a mother to her. She'd loved Zuko, cared for Zuko, raised Zuko...Zuko was everything to her and Azula...she was nothing.

Well how dare she. Preferential treatment for Zuko? Of all people? He was soft, he was _weak_. And she loved her?

That was when Azula had decided. She'd decided that she'd become the best, the best at fire and lightning and fighting and leading and anything else she could master. People would notice, people would adore her. And when they did, they'd realize she didn't care what they thought. Then they'd know what she felt.

Suffering would be their teacher.


End file.
